Every Other Hour: Finding Solutions To Violence In Rio And Chicago

Dr. Day Davis and Kofi Ademola demonstrate how to interact with police officers when helping gunshot wound victims at a UMedics workshop in June.

As part of WBEZ’s ongoing project Every Other Hour, we’re going to hear two reports about how people are finding solutions to gun violence in Rio de Janeiro and Chicago. In Rio, many schools are trapped in the crossfire or gang violence. For the past 10 years, music teacher Roberto Ferreira has worked at a primary school on the poor western outskirts of Rio. Every time a shooting occurs, he tries to calm down his young students in a special way. The BBC’s Catty Sheriff shares Ferreira’s story.

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Then, WBEZ’s Shannon Heffernan shares the story of Journey Jamison. When a man burst through her back door after being shot, Jamison was able to help because of a training program called UMedics. UMedics co-founder Martine Caverl said the city's violence, along with health disparities and ambulance response times, can make people feel powerless, so it’s up to civilians like Jamison to train themselves in emergency medicine.